In the first quarter 30,692 (+13.9%) electrified vehicles of the BMW and MINI brands (BMW i, BMW iPerformance, MINI Electric) were sold worldwide. This means we are also on track to meet the EU’s CO 2 targets. We do not see any necessity to defer climate protection goals. —Pieter Nota, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Customer, Brands and Sales. MORE

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company recently eclipsed 3 million miles of data from road tests and field trials with its connected tires. Earlier post.) Connected tires—those with embedded sensors—are able to “talk” to the vehicle and the road and measure characteristics of the tire, leading to potential enhanced vehicle performance and safety. Initial studies have shown that Goodyear’s connected tires can reduce stopping distance lost between a new and worn tire by 30%. MORE

With Easter just around the corner, your children may be bothering you about the fact that they only have one small Milky Bar Easter egg and that they demand you take them on an egg hunt in the garden MORE

Australia-based Woodside has signed an agreement with Japanese companies JERA Inc, Marubeni Corporation and IHI Corporation to undertake a joint study examining the large-scale export of hydrogen as ammonia for use decarbonizing coal-fired power generation in Japan. The consortium has received approval from Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) for a feasibility study covering the entire hydrogen-as-ammonia value chain. MORE

Owners of an early-build Tesla Model 3 variant may soon be able to add a basic version of Autopilot via an in-app upgrade. Typically for Tesla, this announcement was made by CEO Elon Musk on Twitter. When a Twitter user asked Musk if owners of the discontinued rear-wheel drive Model 3 Long Range variant would ever be able to purchase Autopilot MORE

Mazda continues to be involved in joint research projects and studies as part of an ongoing industry-academia-government collaboration to promote the wide-spread adoption of biofuels from microalgae growth. Earlier post.). As part of its Sustainable Zoom-Zoom 2030 long-term technology development program, the company is committed to reducing its average Well-to-Wheel CO 2 emissions to 50% of 2010 levels by 2030, and to 90% by 2050. MORE

Karma Automotive has entered the final stage of development for two new Silicon Carbide (SiC) Inverters to enhance electric mobility charging. The new SiC traction inverters are engineered in-house by Karma’s Powertrain Power Electronics team, in collaboration with the Power Electronic System Laboratory at University of Arkansas (PESLA). Engineered to deliver enhanced efficiency and performance, the SiC traction inverters will be used in both future Karma vehicles and company partners. MORE

In an open-acess paper published in Nature Communications , Griffith University (Australia) researchers report having enhanced the catalytic activity of CoSe 2 for oxygen evolution in water splitting by incorporating both Fe dopants and Co vacancies into atomically thin CoSe 2 nanobelts. CoSe 2 nanobelts are ultrathin sheets made out of a lattice of cobalt (Co) and selenium (Se). MORE

Tesla might give more owners access to Autopilot as an upgrade. Mercedes is working on a challenger for the Model S Plaid. And how about a solar driveway? This and more, here at Green Car Reports. At least one company is now enabling solar driveways, via paver tiles, and says that a connected solar driveway together with energy storage might power. Today in Car News MORE

Electric cars and solar power are a perfect combination. Charging an electric car from a solar array reduces its overall carbon footprint. Now a Hungary-based company is bringing these two technologies even closer together with solar driveways. Platio (via Inhabitat) claims to be the first company to embed solar tiles in a residential driveway. renewable energy solar MORE

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), which is managed by Berkeley Lab, have quantified how bioproduct accumulation in planta —i.e., engineering plants to produce valuable chemical compounds, or bioproducts, as they grow—affects biofuel selling prices. MORE

For years, Germany’s Mercedes-Benz and BMW have postured about reproducible performance and track times for electric cars. Yet neither of them have managed to present a fully electric model that—like the Porsche Taycan—represents the performance side of EVs in anything approaching the fervor shown in the Model 3 Performance or MORE

Due in showrooms this summer, Vauxhall’s new Insignia will be priced from a very competitive £23,120 on-the-road MORE